


Justified

by TheCursedChild



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 13:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1859952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCursedChild/pseuds/TheCursedChild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny confronts Harry about his childhood when the Daily Prophet and every other paper proclaims his abuse at the hands of the Dursleys. His reaction isn't even close to what she'd expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Justified

"Harry?" Ginny asked cautiously. 

They were sitting on a loveseat in the Gryffindor common room. Voldemort had died eleven long days ago, and many stayed at Hogwarts as they deemed it to be safe there. The Order had made Hogwarts a temporary headquarters for the survivors of the battle and the families that no longer had a home. The Order was trying to round up the last Death Eaters and restore Hogwarts to her former glory with a little help from the Ministry. 

Harry was taking a break from all of the work and the new and deserved fame he now had. People had asked him to tell the story hundreds of times in the first two days and he had exploded and told them to go bother someone else. Putting it down to tiredness, his newest fans had not felt insulted and took a turn to the left to bother his two best friends. 

Hermione, going crazy because of the idiocy of their fans had asked Harry if they could just tell the story and be done with it. After getting permission to tell everything and answer all questions she wanted to, she held a conference in the Great Hall and proceeded to do just that. What she and Ron had apparently misunderstood was that they should begin with the Horcrux hunt, and not with Halloween 1981. 

After telling the crowd about his life more than theirs (while Harry was talking with Professor Dumbledore's portrait in his old office) and answering all questions, the story was published by Luna in the Quibbler and that was where everything went wrong. The Daily Prophet had deemed it necessary to excessively write about his exaggerated home life and two days later the papers had agreed that the headlines should all say : 'Harry Potter: Abused?', with capital letters. That resulted in pity which Harry did not need right now. 

He had denied everything when people asked. Ron, Hermione and Ginny hadn't tried to breach the subject and were left arguing with everyone on why denying abuse didn't mean that the abuse was there. Harry hadn't said anything either and until that day, he wasn't planning to explain himself. That was, until Ginny finally found it prudent to ask. 

"Yes, Ginny?" Ginny gathered up all of her courage and began the most informative conversation she ever had. "What really happened to you while you lived at Privet Drive?" The first reaction she expected was that his yaw would tense, the second was anger, and the third outright denial. She didn't, however, think he would stand up and say: "I don't want to talk about it," and walk away. 

He hadn't lied to her, she was glad about that, but that didn't mean she was giving up. She had finally gathered the courage, and now that she practically had a confession, she wasn't going to be satisfied with a 'I don't want to talk about it.'. Ginny was a Weasley, and her whole family was stubborn, hard-headed, and had the infamous Weasley and Prewett temper. Giving up was the last thing she was contemplating at the moment. 

She followed him through the portrait of the Fat Lady and the hallways. Hogwarts was still being repaired and Ginny could see the boulders and debris on the floors. Harry took a secret passage way and she thanked the twins from whom she'd learned the password. The tunnel was dark and damp and she couldn't run in fear of tripping and rolling the whole way down the stairs. When she exited, she saw Harry disappear behind a corner and had to run to keep track of him. 

The second floor was a maze. Stairs had been blasted to pieces and doors had been turned into ashes. Paintings had been turned to dust and all the landmarks she usually used had disappeared. The statues that had been a majestic army were still guarding the castle, and a passage way she could've used to be outside before he was had collapsed. Just before the man had reached the castle doors she yelled at him from across the hall. 

"What happened?" Turning around he faced her and walked away from the doors. The entrance Hall had been filled with people when she walked in, and when they saw the confrontation forming between the two lovers they quickly told their friends. "Is it true?" she asked defeated. 

"It's true," he admitted reluctantly. He looked determined and stopped a couple of feet away from her. The crowd trapped them in a circle and watched carefully. "Why didn't you go to Dumbledore, to Mom, to Sirius? Why didn't you tell Hermione, Ron... Me?" 

"It doesn't matter." The crowd had a faint idea of what they were talking about and was determined to get the answers from their hero (even though they hoped that Ginny would succeed and they wouldn't have to face the powerful wizard). 

"It matters to me! You deserve to be happy, Harry. Why do you think you don't?" He looks at her like he can't really believe she's real and fighting for him. The boy-who-lived doesn't know what he did to deserve this fiery girl. None the less, he doesn't want to talk about this any longer.

"Maybe I do deserve it, but the past is the past, you should leave it alone." The force with which he said it almost made her back down. Almost. 

"You think that I should condone abuse, encourage it? You think that because people died you deserved to be punished? Why didn't you go to Dumbledore?" She's pleading by the end of it, her eyes watering. It is not fair that Harry, for all his goodness, gentleness and pure heart, was so unloved during his childhood.

"He knew." That turned her world upside down. If the Headmaster had known, did that mean that he was the one behind it? Fury thrummed in her veins, her sadness evaporating. "If he weren't already dead, I'd kill him and...,"

"Don't," he interrupted. "Don't blame a wise man for what happened. I don't, and you shouldn't either." It was the end of their conversation as far as Harry was concerned. He's said what needed to be said, and his girlfriend should leave the past alone. They won't be able to change it anyway, not that he wants to in the first place.

"But...," Ginny tried to object. 

"He saved lives by placing me there. Intentional or not, he saved thousands of lives." Billions, if Voldemort hadn't been stopped and taken over the world instead, killing every muggle, witch, wizard and creature in his path.

"What about your life, doesn't that mean anything?" The selflessness that Harry effortlessly displayed was as admirable as it was grating on her nerves.

"Does your life mean anything to you when you can save others by giving it up? Would you give your life for your family, for a little girl that was at the wrong place at the wrong time, even if you didn't know her?" The question was rhetorical, but she replied anyway. A part of her, no matter how small, felt obligated to prove that she wss good too, that she belonged with the Light, with Harry.

"Of course I would," she answered immediately, confused by his line of questioning. 

"Of course you would," Harry repeated with a proud smile on his face. "I didn't have to give my life to do it. I gave my childhood to save your life, their lives." He gestured to the crowd. They held their breath so they could hear what he had to say next. "The blood wards couldn't keep me safe from the people inside the house, but it could keep me safe from people outside of the house. If I hadn't lived there, I wouldn't have been able to beat Quirrel in my first year. Voldemort would've gotten the stone and he would've had six extra years - maybe eternity - to kill everyone he wanted. Hundreds, thousands of wizards and witches. Billions if he wanted to kill all muggles. I would've been dead and the 'power he knows not' might have never been used. He would be alive today, and we would all be dead." 

He paused and observed the crowd, watching the realisation of the horrors of what could have been. Their eyes were aimed at him and he sadly faced his girlfriend. "I want you to understand. If I had lived here, or anywhere else but Privet Drive, the world as you know it would've been burned to the ground. Maybe I would've been safe inside my house, but I would've been in even more danger every time I stepped outside and into war." It was not arrogance with which he said it. The prophecy had been clear on these matters. Neither can live while the other survives.

"When Neville's parents were attacked, they did it because Alice and Frank Longbottom were friends of my parents. They thought I would be there, given to them while Sirius was in Azkaban, as Remus wasn't allowed to take care of me, and practically everyone was partying except for the parents of the other child that fit the description of the prophecy. They are in St. Mungo's because of me. The next day the Prophet told every Death Eater that I was with my relatives and no-one was attacked again." 

He glanced sadly at Neville and got a sad nod in return. They had already discussed what could've been and both had visited the brave Aurors to pay their respects. The kind faces of the couple still looked at him every time he closed his eyes. He had somehow gotten closer to Ginny and gently grabbed her shoulders. "Don't you understand? We would've given our lives, but I only had to give my childhood." It is nothing compared to what would've happened otherwise, the unfair prices the world would've had to pay. 

"I believe in the Greater good. It's not something that should be said with sarcasm or hate or mockery. One life, one childhood, is nothing compared to the life of one innocent, let alone thousands. My mother was one of those innocents, and she gave her life for me. She believed in the Greater Good, as did my dad, who died for the both of us. I believe it, and I was prepared to give my life. My childhood was not like yours, not normal, maybe not ideal, but I would do it exactly the same again, if I had the choice." He'd walked into the Forbidden Forest to pay the price of his failure voluntarily, no Headmaster to guide him or manipulate him.

"Dumbledore, no matter why he did it, made the right choice. As I told you before, it doesn't matter. I am proud what I've done, of who I am."


End file.
